For the month of January, I hosted an Instagram series on cultivating life rhythms and routines that help us live a meaningful life. If you missed the series, you can find the weekly recaps here: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4. January doesn’t fit neatly into 4 weeks, so here is the final recap.
January R+R Day 29: Enjoy the moment
There is a saying that goes: We do not remember days, we remember moments. Enjoying the moment that we are currently living goes a long way toward living a joy-filled life. Does that mean that there is joy in every single moment? Of course not. There are hard things that we go through in life, and I’m not trying to diminish that at all. And while there will be grief and sorrow, there is also joy, and there are gifts to be found even in the hard things. The gift of a hard moment might be that you discover a strength that you didn’t know you had. You might discover a deeper level of compassion for others. You might discover a calling to something new, or something deeper. Looking for the joy, or the gifts, in the moments of our lives keeps our eyes open to new possibilities.
Focus prompt: What are you carrying that is preventing you from enjoying the small things in life, the everyday moments? Lay those things down and find something to enjoy.
January R+R Day 30 Have Fun
This is one of my favorite practices. Having fun. I love to have fun. 2020 had a lot of moments that weren’t very fun, but it also had a lot of moments that were very fun! Our family has fun together on the daily. We are silly, we are weird, and we own it. We geek out on Star Wars, Star Trek, and well, basically any fantasy movie trivia out there. We play games. We go running, we go for hikes, we go paddleboarding (but not in January). We love to travel and find new places to explore. We love good food, and we love to enjoy time with friends and family.
Focus prompt: How does your family have fun on the daily? Get silly and have some fun today.
January R+R Day 31 Rest
We are ending the month with this one because it is so important. All of these rhythms and routines are good things,and they are there to make our lives easier and more meaningful in the ways that really matter. But if we overtrain, to use a running term, or if we only focus on “Doing all the things” all the time, we will burn out and crash. Part of training, part of running the good race, is resting. For some, that looks like a Sabbath day, one day out of the week to rest, relax, to have fun. Some of us have a hard time carving out a full day to rest, but I encourage you to find as big of a chunk of time as you can. Let your body and your mind rest, do something that you find relaxing and enjoyable. Be with your people. It’s pretty amazing how much more productive my other six days can be when I actually take time to rest for a day.
Focus prompt: Do I take time to rest? Where can I block out time for resting in my schedule? Do I know what things feel like “work” to me? Do I know what things feel like “rest?”
Thank you for joining me for January R+R! I hope you were encouraged in your daily Rhythms and Routines!
Rebecca Meek 